In the current digital age, the trend is that more and more tasks involve use of information technology (IT) and digital media.
For example, meetings or conferences are now often conducted virtually (e.g., through a network) and/or via mixed communication media (e.g., in person supplemented by delivery of meeting content through a network). At a meeting, when a presenter is giving a presentation to the attendees of the meeting, printed copies of the presentation slides are often made available to the attendees. The attendees of the meeting often take notes or make annotations directly onto the printed slides. With today's technology, such attendees can access the presentation slides on their mobile devices (such as a tablet, handset, etc.). In addition, other information may be exchanged and/or considered during the meeting, in addition to the presentation slides.
As an example, a presenter making the presentation may supply additional materials or information that is not in the slides, or a participant may utilize a network-connected terminal to retrieve materials or content via the network. Further, the meeting participant may take notes or make annotations via a software application, or on a hardcopy of the slides or other sheets.
However, it takes some personal discipline and self-organization by the participant to collect together all of the materials, information and content that was considered during the meeting. If such archiving is not performed at (or shortly after) the conclusion of the meeting, the materials, information or content may be lost, or at least difficult to locate, at a later time.
There is a need for tools to manage and archive such materials, information and content.
Further, there may be instances in which the notes and annotations of participants may be of interest to others (such as the presenter, a meeting organizer, a manager, other participants, etc.), for assorted reasons. One possible way of finding out such information would be to analyze the notes and annotations, either on paper or digitally. However, such approach assumes that the participants willingly take additional steps to make the notes or annotations available, which may involve a cumbersome process.
There is a need for more convenient ways to extract information from the notes and annotations by the participants of a meeting.